Judging others

[fred_conty]

“Judge not and you shall not be judged.”
How would you interpret that to be applied in everyday life?

Does that mean when someone does something against
another person that we don’t see it that way?
Does it mean we keep our mouth shut?
Does it mean we ignore it as if it never happened?
Does it mean we should always thing nice thoughts about someone else
and exclude all bad thoughts about them?
Does it mean if we cannot critisize anyone?
Does it mean that I can do anything and noone has the right
to say anything to me except be nice to me?
I have no right to think they did wrong when they did do wrong?
What do you think it means?

Just a thought.
What do you think?

 

[fisherman_carl]

Mt 7:1 - “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

This passage is related to James 4:11-12, which says:

“Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to judge your neighbor?”

Jesus, in Mt 7:1 is talking about judging others because of their faults, for we will be judged with the measure we judge others (7:2). If we look upon our brother without mercy, we will bring that same unmerciful judgment upon ourselves. This is about our relationship with God, and what our place is and is not. James says there is, “one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” That role of judge belongs to God alone.

This does not mean we should never make prudent judgments. For example in verse 6, Jesus says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.”. And, in verses 15 to 19 Jesus talks about how you will know a false prophet by their fruit. “Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit (v17).”

We can never know the motives of people’s hearts like God can. Therefore we can never pass judgment on them. We can not judge their soul. That is reserved for God alone. However, we can for instance objectively discern between what is right and what is wrong, what is a good prophet and a false one, and to whom to give what is holy. We can also see our brother in sin and try to mercifully correct him for the profit of his soul. For scripture says, “he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”(James 5:20)

 

[ChrisB103]

Mt 7:1 - “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

This passage is related to James 4:11-12, which says:

“Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to judge your neighbor?”

Jesus, in Mt 7:1 is talking about judging others because of their faults, for we will be judged with the measure we judge others (7:2). If we look upon our brother without mercy, we will bring that same unmerciful judgment upon ourselves. This is about our relationship with God, and what our place is and is not. James says there is, “one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” That role of judge belongs to God alone.

This does not mean we should never make prudent judgments. For example in verse 6, Jesus says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.”. And, in verses 15 to 19 Jesus talks about how you will know a false prophet by their fruit. “Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit (v17).”

We can never know the motives of people’s hearts like God can. Therefore we can never pass judgment on them. We can not judge their soul. That is reserved for God alone. However, we can for instance objectively discern between what is right and what is wrong, what is a good prophet and a false one, and to whom to give what is holy. We can also see our brother in sin and try to mercifully correct him for the profit of his soul. For scripture says, “he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”(James 5:20)

+1 for Fisherman Carl’s answer. Basically, the point here is that we shouldn’t judge the eternal state of anyone’s soul. For example, we should never say of a “bad” person who dies that, “He’s on his way to hell” or anything of this nature. We can decide on the objective morality or immorality of an action though, because this has been revealed to us by God and by our ability to reason.

Also, consider this practical example: We must constantly use prudent judgment to decide if someone is fit to watch our children, serve in particular roles, lead others spiritually, etc. I hope this makes sense.

 

[fhansen]

God’s certainly not telling us to turn off our brains-to stop discerning right from wrong. Using the same word for judgement in John 7:24 as He does in Matt 7:21He says:
Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

 

[fred_conty]

I liked your explaination but how would that cover this situation.

Jesus said that if someone asks for out coat, we should give it to him. And if he
asks us to go one mile, we should go two. And then I believe He said we should
give and not ask for it back.

I knew a man who picked up a hitchhiker at night when it was raining. The hitchhicker
robbed him and threw him out on the side of the road and stole his auto.
I remarked to him that he would know better than to do such a thing again. His response was that he would do it again.

Is that what Jesus means about not judging?

Just a thought.

 

[fhansen]

I liked your explaination but how would that cover this situation.

Jesus said that if someone asks for out coat, we should give it to him. And if he
asks us to go one mile, we should go two. And then I believe He said we should
give and not ask for it back.

I knew a man who picked up a hitchhiker at night when it was raining. The hitchhicker
robbed him and threw him out on the side of the road and stole his auto.
I remarked to him that he would know better than to do such a thing again. His response was that he would do it again.

Is that what Jesus means about not judging?

Just a thought.

I don’t think so-that’s what would be meant by turning off our brain though, IMO Did he wrongly judge the situation to be safe or did he simply not care? Another verse comes to mind. When commissioning the apostles to go out and preach, Jesus said, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.. He wanted them to remain truly innocent, conformed to His image, all the while fully aware of-and beware of-the evils in the world. I don’t know for sure if that applies or not but I still maintain that God’s not asking us to look for trouble-we may as well consciously seek to place ourselves in danger if that’s the case. Would He want a father responsible for the welfare of his family to take such risks?

 

[Jaypeeto4]

I know of a cabdriver
who will no longer take people to black neighborhoods (unless it’s a woman, alone) because
one night he picked up two nicely dressed black men, took them to Liberty City
in Miami (it was very, very late). Suddenly, they leaned forward,
threw a rope around his neck and garrotted him.
He fought back like a maniac, for his very life, escaped, etc.,
and was permanently scarred and traumatized by the incident.
Those men were trying to murder him. He has never gotten over it and CAN’T.
He doesn’t hate black folks or look down on them in general, but the incident
terrorized and traumatized him and he is incapable of putting it behind him
and of getting rid of the fear of it happening again.
Your friend is very brave.
If a hitchhiker attacked me, either he or I would die, right then and there.
If someone tries to murder me or a member of my family or a friend,
and if I had to to stop him, I would kill him without a twinge of remorse.
And I loathe killing.
In such a situation, there is no margin for error.
And if I survived it, I’d never pick up another hitch hiker, that’s for sure.
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[fisherman_carl]

I liked your explaination but how would that cover this situation.

Jesus said that if someone asks for out coat, we should give it to him. And if he
asks us to go one mile, we should go two. And then I believe He said we should
give and not ask for it back.

I knew a man who picked up a hitchhiker at night when it was raining. The hitchhicker
robbed him and threw him out on the side of the road and stole his auto.
I remarked to him that he would know better than to do such a thing again. His response was that he would do it again.

Is that what Jesus means about not judging?

Just a thought.

I think that the situation that you describe has more to do with that guys fear of going through the same experience that he went through before, than it has to do with judging others. It may be possible for him to get over his fear of picking up hitch hikers by looking objectively at the real risk involved. If it is inherently unsafe to pick up hitch hikers then maybe it would be prudent not to do it. But, if the risk is like 1 in a million chance that something like that would happen again then maybe it is not too risky. It might be less risky than flying in a plane for instance.

He could do research and to learn what could make someone more risky to pick up than another. This would be prudent judgment. He could learn self-defense and have strategies in place should something go wrong. Again, that would be prudent.

When Jesus talks about us not judging he means that we are not to look at that person and think, oh he’s going to hell. That would be making a judgment on that person’s soul.

But, Jesus isn’t saying that if we see somebody sinning we are supposed to go, oh I didn’t see that, got to think happy thoughts now. Isn’t he wearing a nice tie? No. We need to discern right from wrong. We need to make moral judgments so that we ourselves can live rightly. We need to stand up for the truth and denounce what is wrong. Objectively, we can say that what that hitchhiker did to your friend was just plain wrong. But, we can’t say that this person is going to hell. That is for God to decide.

Ultimately, Jesus is calling us to be merciful to others, to forgive others as we have been forgiven, to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect. This means realizing who we are as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. We have been forgiven our huge debt sin through Christ. Likewise, he expects us to forgive others in return. How can we condemn others for sinning when we ourselves are sinners? Let him who has never sinned cast the first stone.

Our attitude of mercy is not one of lenience towards the sin, but mercy towards the sinner. That is key. As they say, hate the sin, but love the sinner. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

 

[fred_conty]

@ fisherman, you said,
“I think that the situation that you describe has more to do with that guys fear of going through the same experience that he went through before, than it has to do with judging others.”

Actually he said that he WOULD do it again.

Most people I think would not pick up a hitchhiker at night. So that is judging that
hitchhiker as bad, not so?

But a Christian has to be different, and not judge that man as bad, and then pick him up.

Could we say this? “Try not to judge people. If you judge others then you are not giving love.”

Just a thought.

 

[fhansen]

@ fisherman, you said,
“I think that the situation that you describe has more to do with that guys fear of going through the same experience that he went through before, than it has to do with judging others.”

Actually he said that he WOULD do it again.

Most people I think would not pick up a hitchhiker at night. So that is judging that
hitchhiker as bad, not so?

But a Christian has to be different, and not judge that man as bad, and then pick him up.

Could we say this? “Try not to judge people. If you judge others then you are not giving love.”

Just a thought.

Judging, as in appraising or discerning, is fine. Judging, as in condemning, is not OK. As far as hitchhikers go, we owe them no ride, they’ll survive without us-and wisdom may well indicate that we appraise the situation as potentially dangerous. Sheez-you don’t have to give someone just anything they want-just cuz they ask for it.

 

[Bookcat]

This will be of interest:

blog.adw.org/2010/06/correcting-the-sinner-is-not-being-judgmental-it-is-an-essential-work-of-charity/

blog.adw.org/2009/11/fraternal-correction-the-forgotten-virtue/

 

[mgoforth]

“Judge not and you shall not be judged.”
How would you interpret that to be applied in everyday life?

Pretty much as the other posters have said. Don’t condemn, but discerning is wise.

Does that mean when someone does something against
another person that we don’t see it that way?
Does it mean we keep our mouth shut?
Does it mean we ignore it as if it never happened?

NO! This is not what our faith teaches.

Here’s something from another thread:

"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:3-5

Doesn’t this parable tell us not to correct the mistakes of another, unless we’re willing to work on correcting our own mistakes first? The last verse says plain as day that once we’re seeing clearly that we should help our brother get that speck out!

I’ve heard the argument that since we’ll never get all the debris out of our eyes in this lifetime, that we have no right to ever point out specks to anyone else…but that just seems to conflict with so many other verses:

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but correct him openly, lest thou incur sin through him” Leviticus 19:17

“He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” James 5:20

“If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him” Luke 17:3

“Them that sin, reprove before all: that the rest also may have fear” 1 Timothy 5:20

“Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine” 2 Timothy 4:2

“Brethren, and if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” Galatians 6:1

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsels" Proverbs 12:15

I’ll confess that I don’t always have the spirit of meekness in my responses to sin, and that’s one of the logs I’ve been working to remove from my own eye.

There are also some sobering verses about the type of person who repeatedly refuses to listen to honest criticism:

“A fool receiveth not the words of prudence” (Proverbs 18:12)

“A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: knowing that he, that is such a one, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment” Titus 3:11

…and Pope Pius XII also said, "One cannot make peace at the cost of truth, and especially not at the cost of divine truth. This would imply an offense of God."

We must resist evil, but at the same time refrain from condemning the evildoer. The evildoer is as much our brother/sister as the victim is. Think about what you would do if you saw two small children fighting…you’d probably try to stop the fight, but hopefully you’d also try to teach the children not to hurt each other in the future. We’re all children in a spiritual sense. Some of us however, are more mature children who are able to look after our “younger” siblings.

Does it mean we should always thing nice thoughts about someone else
and exclude all bad thoughts about them?

We should always think charitably about everyone else (and ourselves), and correct each other with love instead of hate. But if we notice someone committing a sin, it’s only logical to acknowledge that we did in fact see a sin. We have no way of knowing the degree of sin for anyone else, since we can’t see inside their heart.

Does it mean if we cannot critisize anyone?
Does it mean that I can do anything and noone has the right
to say anything to me except be nice to me?
I have no right to think they did wrong when they did do wrong?

No, no and no. See the longer answer above. And as Christians, we are obligated to help our brothers and sisters in Christ by pointing out their sins in a charitable manner. If you remain silent, in many cases you will have sinned yourself!